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Two new polls of battleground states show an extremely close race between President Barack Obama and Mitt Romney, who is increasingly labeled the Republican party’s presumptive nominee.

In Iowa, however, it seems that the GOP primary race is continuing. The Republicans’ Lincoln Dinner on Saturday night featured speaker after speaker who never mentioned Romney’s name and referred to the general election only in terms of beating Obama.

The slate of delegates nominated Saturday, to be voted on at the state convention, is dominated by people who have supported Ron Paul in the past. Current and past party leaders, some who have endorsed Romney and some who haven’t, tell me that was a foreseeable result of the Paul campaign engaging and organizing when the Romney campaign did not.

“I certainly don’t begrudge anybody that got their act together, organized and did their homework,” Republican National Committee member Steve Scheffler said. “Nobody can complain the process was tilted towards somebody.”

The situation has given rise to headlines, from Iowa media and around the country, suggesting Paul “really” won the Iowa caucuses. We’ll hear more about that this weekend, no doubt, as the Texas congressman’s son, Sen. Rand Paul of Kentucky, arrives Friday to keynote the Iowa Faith and Freedom Coalition forum.

That narrative is based on speculation about what the delegates, if duly elected at the state convention, would do in Tampa, Fla., at the national convention. Iowa Republican delegates are unbound, so they can vote for anyone.

“Traditionally, the Iowa delegation has always gone to the national convention supporting the candidate that secured the nomination,” Darrell Kearney, longtime Iowa Republican leader and activist, said. He said he expects tradition will prevail again this year.

Some use the situation to highlight the lack of connection between the presidential preference poll on caucus night and Iowa’s actual awarding of delegates. But the fact is, there’s never been a connection on the GOP side. Iowa Republicans don’t always pick the winner at the beginning of the nomination process, but they’re generally on board by the end.

David Fischer, a paid staffer for the Ron Paul campaign who is among the delegate nominees, said he thinks that when the time comes, the Iowa delegates will “do the right thing.” The right thing may turn out to be uniting behind Romney.

But there doesn’t seem to be much urgency to come together before the convention, at least at the state level.

County party events have already started focusing on the Romney campaign. Kearney noted that the Polk County GOP’s dinner at the end of May will feature former ambassador John Bolton, a key Romney adviser on foreign policy.

Brian Kennedy, speaking in his role as former state GOP chairman — and not as the Romney campaign co-chairman — said the Scott County GOP luncheon last week was all about supporting Romney’s effort to beat Obama in November. He said he thinks most Iowa voters remain focused on the big picture, and he hopes party insiders won’t be distracted by the twists and turns along the way.

The Romney campaign, which is starting to organize in Iowa, can help its case by getting top party elected officials on board, carefully working the delegates and showing it is engaged and prepared for battle.

Party leaders can’t afford to sit until after the conventions, however. Losing a few Iowa votes in Tampa will only become a problem for Romney if it sets him up to lose a lot of Iowa votes in November.